Jiapingguan Chronicle

Chapter 2710 Still Vigorous in Old Age 94.0
Seeing Qi Zhifeng's indignant expression, Shen Cha sighed helplessly and reached out to pinch his cheek.

"Huh?" A little confused by the hand that suddenly reached out, Qi Zhifeng looked at Shen Cha with a blank expression.

"Little Qi, have you forgotten something very important?"

"what's up?"

"Xiao Cha is saying that the real culprit behind our Mudfish Prince's tragic fate is the Liao-Jin spies." Jin Miaomiao also reached out and pinched his cheek. "Otherwise, he wouldn't be looking for you to settle accounts with."

"Wasn't this something done by the Wanyan family? What does it have to do with us?"

Shen Cha and Jin Miaomiao looked at Chu Han at the same time, and Chu Han nodded with a smile.

“Back then, the Liao spies didn’t get involved much; at most, they just fueled the flames. But the one who led and united the powerful families to push this matter forward was the Jin.” Chu Han nodded. “So, what he was eyeing was the Wanyan family’s territory, not the Yelü family’s.”

“I understand.” Shen Cha nodded. “That’s why he only colluded with a few nobles, led by the Xiao family, to do some minor things, but he didn’t have such a strong desire to be an enemy of the Liao Kingdom.”

“That’s right.” Chu Han nodded. “However…”

"Does Uncle have something to say?"

"What my benefactor means is," Qi Zhifeng looked at Chu Han, then at Shen Cha, "that although external factors led to the Little Prince's tragedy, the root cause was not external, but internal."

Shen Cha admitted that Qi Zhifeng was right. If their own family didn't have problems, no amount of outside interference would have helped.

"As the saying goes, flies don't land on eggs without cracks, that's what it means." Chu Han smiled. "The little prince's father is the root of this tragedy. So, his fate was already sealed from the moment his mother conceived him. Even without outsiders sowing discord, he would have been abandoned because he was not born with love and expectation."

"That's true," Qi Zhifeng stroked his chin, asking with a puzzled look, "Why is that? Didn't the previous emperor and empress have any children before the little prince was born?"

“That’s true,” Chu Han sighed. “His mother suffered immensely during her ten months of pregnancy, something unprecedented. She even nearly died in childbirth, which is unforgivable to his father. So…” He spread his hands. “His father poured all his resentment into him. No matter what, he would find various excuses to abandon him. The Imperial Observatory’s verdict, the Jin spies, and the machinations of powerful families merely gave his father an opportunity.” He paused, gave a cold laugh, and said, “Even after he was sent to Xiangguo Temple, he would still be assassinated and poisoned. How could these things escape the eyes of his father, the emperor? His father probably enjoyed seeing these so-called accidents happen, or perhaps deliberately orchestrated them.”

"That's terrifying." Xia Chen spread his hands and said, "These two, father and son, don't seem like father and son at all. They seem like people who have been mortal enemies for generations and want each other dead."

"His father couldn't have died from that."

"No, that's not it. Don't talk back. He wouldn't do something like that." Chu Han quickly interrupted Shen Cha and Jin Miaomiao's bold guesses. "His father probably did something too extreme, and the aristocratic families couldn't tolerate it anymore, so they made him suddenly fall ill and pass away." "Aristocratic families?"

"Actually, he shared the same thoughts as the Little Prince, and was very dissatisfied with the powerful families' control. However, the father and son had different personalities. If it were the Little Prince, he probably wouldn't have been so eager to force the powerful families to relinquish power. As a result, things went to extremes and backfired, leading to the powerful families uniting to take his and his son's lives."

"That is to say, the Little Prince's brother is also..."

“Yes!” Shen Cha nodded to Xiao Fengqi and Qi Zhifeng. “The revenge of the aristocratic families is much more intense than we imagined. You can go back and ask your elders about this. This is also a major reason why the Liao and Jin dynasties separated from the previous dynasty.”

“I know that!” Qi Zhifeng raised his hand immediately. “I’ve heard my grandfather and great-grandfather talk about it.”

"The Qi family is very old." Chu Han chuckled. "The oldest member is probably over 130 years old, right?"

“That’s right, it was my great-grandfather.” Qi Zhifeng shook his head proudly, showing two small tiger teeth to Shen Cha and Jin Miaomiao. “I heard my great-grandfather and grandfather say that the powerful families in the Central Plains look down on families like ours in the North, even if we have strong troops and riches.”

“I’ve heard about it too.” Xiao Fengqi sighed. “They demand that the aristocratic families in the north pay very high taxes every year, impose outrageous corvée labor, and send us out to fight, but we have to pay for our own military expenses. Even when we go back to report on our duties, we are subjected to their disdain and all sorts of ridicule. The aristocratic families in the north discussed it and decided that it would be better to break away from the Central Plains than to go through all this trouble.”

“That’s right.” Qi Zhifeng sighed, tugged at Shen Cha’s sleeve, and shook it. “It’s all their fault, isn’t it?”

Seeing him like this, Shen Cha was both amused and exasperated. The world is a place that is bound to unite and divide, and no one knows when the Xia, Liao, and Jin dynasties will reunite.

“The powerful families have been in power for too long, and they've taken many things for granted. They've been high and mighty for hundreds of years, and even now, they still treat us coldly.” Xia Chen sighed. “The Wang and Xie families are a little better, but the families below them…” He curled his lip in disdain, and continued, “They think they're the third in command, so I'm not surprised at all that the Slumber was their doing and that it's been surviving in the shadows for so many years.”

"Speaking of this, after we got rid of Mian, we had to interrogate their main leaders. They were so arrogant." Chu Han shook his head slightly. "You wouldn't believe it if I told you, but they looked at us like we were ants. They didn't think we could control their fate."

“I can imagine,” Xiao Fengqi snorted. “I’ve had the same experience.”

"Oh?" Chu Han was taken aback. "How come someone your age would be involved in these things?"

“It’s different from yours. That time, it was a caravan from the Shi family passing through Linhuang Prefecture. The Xiao family was in charge of receiving them, and I went along to see what was going on.” Xiao Fengqi patted Qi Zhifeng. “You and the two Yelü princes were there.”

"Everyone's here?" Qi Zhifeng tilted his head and thought for a while, then slapped his leg hard. "It's that bald guy!"